nanog mailing list archives
Re: Muni Fiber and Politics
From: Blake Dunlap <ikiris () gmail com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 14:08:26 -0500
My power is pretty much always on, my water is pretty much always on and safe, my sewer system works, etc etc... Why is layer 1 internet magically different from every other utility? -Blake On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:38 PM, William Herrin <bill () herrin us> wrote:
On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra () baylink com> wrote:Over the last decade, 19 states have made it illegal for municipalities to own fiber networksHi Jay, Everything government does, it does badly. Without exception. There are many things government does better than any private organization is likely to sustain, but even those things it does slowly and at an exorbitant price. Muni fiber is a competition killer. You can't beat city hall; once built it's not practical to compete, even with better service, so residents are stuck with only the overpriced (either directly or via taxes), usually underpowered and always one-size-fits-all network access which results. As an ISP I watched something similar happen in Altoona PA a decade and a half ago. It was a travesty. The only exception I see to this would be if localities were constrained to providing point to point and point to multipoint communications infrastructure within the locality on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis. The competition that would foster on the services side might outweigh the damage on the infrastructure side. Like public roads facilitate efficient transportation and freight despite the cost and potholes, though that's an imperfect simile. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin ................ herrin () dirtside com bill () herrin us Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/> Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
Current thread:
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics, (continued)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics William Herrin (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Scott Helms (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics goemon (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Owen DeLong (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Miles Fidelman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Constantine A. Murenin (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics goemon (Jul 22)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Matthew Kaufman (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Aaron (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Ray Van Dolson (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Ryan Wilkins (Jul 21)
- Re: Muni Fiber and Politics Aaron (Jul 21)